Metro widow charged cell phone cancellation fee after husband dies

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. - Sue Flynn lost her husband of 51 years to cancer last November.

“It’s stressful to say the least,” Flynn said.

The Lee’s Summit woman tried to get her husband’s name removed from their T-Mobile phone account.  Customer service told her to mail them his death certificate.   She did. 

Then, Flynn saw a $200 charge for an early termination fee. 

Flynn said she made a number of calls to T-Mobile and faxed copies of the death certificate two more times.  Still, the charge remained on her bill.

“I’ve probably talked to eight to 10 people at least and none of them can give me any information,” Flynn said. 

Flynn told the T-Mobile customer service reps she was going to contact Call For Action and she did. 

"I thought maybe you could help me because I can't seem to take care of it myself,” she said.

Days later, T-Mobile contacted Flynn to report the termination fee has been removed from her bill.

In a written statement to Call For Action, a T-Mobile spokesperson states, “ T-Mobile is committed to delivering the best experience in wireless to our customers. T-Mobile extends its sincere and heartfelt sympathies for Mrs. Flynn’s loss. Once T-Mobile was able to acquire the death certificate on February 9th, T-Mobile was able to take matters to address the issue. ”

When a family member dies, phone companies have procedures to avoid unnecessary fees.   T-Mobile provided the following information on how to remove someone’s name from an account due to death:

When customers receive a loss in the family, the authorized user on the account should contact Customer Care to close out the account and discuss how to provide a copy of the death certificate. If there is no authorized user then a family member can send a written request for cancellation without the early cancellation fee and/or account changes to Customer Relations and include the following:

• Account Name, Account Number and/or mobile number
• Name, Relationship and contact information of the person making the request
• Detailed request for the account change
• Documentation (Death Certificate or Attorney/legal estate documents)